Chapter 46

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Translator: Harry Potta

Chapter Title: The Super Shy Kid is Looking for Dad 141

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“Wow.”

Only Lukarion echoed back without any real enthusiasm.

Selina and Ppu Ppu each clapped with their hands and nose.

“Ahem!”

Tiye, beaming proudly at the sight, turned around with a stern expression and pulled something out of her bag.

It was the circular schedule she had diligently drawn up on a sheet of paper just moments ago.

“This is the schedule. First, at nine in the morning! Everyone wakes up together, washes their faces, and brushes their teeth!”

The mercenaries exchanged glances.

“Then from ten until four in the afternoon is free time!”

Veil furrowed his brow.

“Hold on. Why is the free time so long? That's basically the whole day.”

As if she had anticipated that very question, Tiye puffed out her chest.

“This means free time just for the mercenaries! Tiye goes to preschool during this time.”

Basto's mouth fell open.

Come to think of it.

The Lumen Grand Commander was currently investigating preschools suitable for Tiye to attend.

Once they found a way for her to come and go without being seen by others, Tiye planned to start right away.

'But isn't the schedule a bit too packed?'

Preschool during the day and sieging magic stones at night.

Tiye was only four years old. It was too much to handle both in a single day.

Basto, who had been mulling it over, raised his hand.

“Tiye. That schedule seems way too intense for you.”

Raoul and Veil chimed in as well.

“I agree. Won't you get too tired?”

“Yeah, kiddo. For little ones, sleeping, resting, and eating are the most important things.”

But Tiye stubbornly shook her head.

“No way. Becoming the number one mercenary group is way more important to Tiye!”

She continued on with a voice brimming with passion.

“Look, Tiye is the king. Com! Man! Der! in Chief! But it's super disgraceful that Tiye's mercenary group isn't number one.”

“Disgraceful?”

“Yeah!”

Disgraceful was a new word Tiye had picked up from Selina just earlier.

Selina had explained noble society to her and taught her words like “disgrace” and “humiliation.”

“Tiye thinks anything less than number one is all disgrace and humiliation. That's why we're gonna hurry up and siege magic stones to become the strongest legendary mercenaries.”

Veil ruffled his hair as if he had a headache.

Then he stood up from his seat and said,

“Alright, fine. It is about time we got back to our real job.”

Thanks to getting dragged into one incident after another, the Agaveert Mercenary Corps hadn't sieged any magic stones in a while.

“Let's give it a shot. Climbing the ranks is good for us anyway.”

He turned to look at the other mercenaries.

“So, to start, how about something small on the outskirts of the capital? This whole area's under the Holy Knight Order anyway.”

Tiye tilted her head.

“Veil bro, what are you talking about? We have to take out the small ones and the mediums too. That's how we get to number one fast.”

Veil let out a dry chuckle as he stared at Tiye.

“Kiddo. You think medium magic stones are a pushover? Why are you so obsessed with being number one?”

Tiye rolled her eyes instead of answering.

She couldn't very well tell Veil, 'Because we have to get to number one quick so I can cut off Dad's rice bowl!'

The child averted her gaze to the schedule for no reason and changed the subject.

“But back in Pearl City, we sieged a medium one, right? The one that came out of the sea. It wasn't that hard...”

“That was only because you summoned stuff like shipwrecks.”

Veil added in a strange tone,

“Of course, with our current forces, mediums are pretty doable...”

“If we're sieging anyway, mediums are more efficient than smalls.”

Basto cut in.

He stroked his beard, lost in thought.

“Like Tiye says, if our goal is to climb the rankings, it's a better strategy to skip the trivial small magic stones and go straight for the mediums.”

A bright smile spread across Tiye's face.

“Right? Wow, Basto uncle is the best!”

The child toddled over and hugged Basto tightly.

But then Nordics, who had been silent the whole time, finally spoke up.

“So how do you plan to get there, Tiye?”

Tiye dashed back to the table stacked with teleportation scrolls.

“For travel, Selina Mom and Dad gave us tons of teleportation scrolls, so we'll use these!”

Nordics nodded as if he had expected as much.

Then he said,

“Tiye. Teleportation scrolls have their limits when approaching magic stones.”

Tiye's eyes went wide.

In the meantime, Nordics calmly placed his hands on his knees and explained.

“Because every magic stone is surrounded by mana waves.”

“Waves...?”

“That's right.”

Nordics approached and picked up one of the teleportation scrolls.

He showed Tiye the back side, etched with complex formations, in detail.

“The magic circles and runes engraved here are infused with mana extracted from monster cores. That's the principle that allows teleportation.”

“...”

“But the mana waves from a medium magic stone interfere with the scroll's activation. Specifically, the waves tangle up the mana flow inside the scroll.”

Tiye's lips slowly parted.

“If that weren't the case, why wouldn't everyone just teleport right to the magic stones? Shortening travel time alone would make sieges way easier. It's not that they didn't—they couldn't.”

“...”

“You can't use teleportation scrolls directly near magic stones because of the waves.”

Tiye was so focused that she nearly drooled without realizing it.

But thinking back, it felt like she had heard something similar before.

The day she first met Edmund.

In the conversation between him and his adjutant.

'That's right, even Uncle Edmund couldn't send supplies back then.'

There were too many magic stones blocking the supply routes, so the teleportation scrolls wouldn't activate.

That's why Tiye had suggested a good solution.

Hang the supplies on lanterns and send them that way.

In the end, after agonizing over it, Tiye stared up at Nordics.

“Th-then what do we do...?”

The child's eyebrows drooped like those of a drenched baby bird.

Nordics lightly patted Tiye's head.

“Hmm. We can't get right next to it, but the best we can do is teleport to the nearest safe zone and walk the rest of the way.”

“How far do we have to walk?”

“For a small magic stone, we can use the scroll if we leave about 20 dia. That's roughly four hours on foot.”

“Four hours...?!”

Tiye's mouth gaped open.

Even with teleportation scrolls, it would take four hours—and that was just to reach a small magic stone.

“Wh-what about for a medium?”

“To be safe, we'd need to leave about 100 dia. Push beyond that, and there could be an accident.”

Tiye was already well aware of teleportation accidents from bits and pieces she'd overheard here and there.

If you input coordinates that don't exist or something interferes during activation...

'Did you hear? Vice Count Matthias got his hand severed.'

'Yeah, I heard. That wastrel tried using a teleportation scroll and that's what happened.'

'Exactly. Can you believe someone still causes accidents like that?'

'Right? Why drink and teleport? Just input the coordinates right. And it was for a trip that would've taken twenty minutes by carriage... Agh! Kiddo! Why are you under the stairs!'

Tiye had overheard Veil and Raoul's conversation while playing sleeping bear under the stairs.

And she'd been utterly shocked.

'Using a teleportation scroll near a magic stone means your hand...!'

Tiye fidgeted with her own hands for no reason and clamped her mouth shut.

If it took four hours even with teleportation scrolls—or up to twenty hours in the worst case—then all of Tiye's plans would go up in smoke.

First off, she wouldn't be able to cut off Dad's rice bowl quickly, and second,

“Tiye can't do her side job...?”

The schedule of preschool by day and magic stone sieges by night would completely fall apart.

“What do we do...?”

But right then.

Tiye's eyes caught sight of Marbas standing off in the distance.